New Endings, Old Starts

by David Silver

74 - Back to School

Screwball was pouting. She was good at that, it turned out. "I wanna go with you!"

Comforting gently tapped her new sister on the nose. "You'll learn things today too, but not at the same place. Study hard and we'll get to play afterwards. Learning can be fun, but it's work, so I'll be working, not playing."

Screwball folded her arms on her chest. "Why can't I work at your school-place?"

"Because you're staying at the hospital." She pointed the way. "At least while I'm at school. I'll pick you up afterwards and we'll have the rest of the day to play." That was the compromise they had reached, allowing her to get time with therapist ponies but not be cut off from ponies she trusted and cared for. "And we'll practice some chaos!"

"Oooo!" Her unhappiness evaporated at the idea of new chaos magic. "I'm ready! When is the party?"

Comforting wasn't sure... but... She reached behind herself and pulled out a calender. She had no idea what was on it, but calenders kept track of that, right? Right there. "In just a few days." She pointed at the pinkie drawing with lines coming off of it. "See?"

Screwball came in, twirling to arrive upside down at the calender. "Wow, that's close! I'll be good so we can have the bestest party ever!" She thrust a hoof up(down?) towards the ground and rotated back up. "See you after the school thing." She let out a piercing squeal of joy as she swam a bit spastically towards the hospital.

Comforting considered her sister a moment. "She's in the right place..." Maybe they could help her even out a little, so she could be her best Screwy self. Still, the matter was handled, so Comforting scooted towards school, at least until a hoof got right in her way. It was attached to an arm, which was attached to Diamond Tiara.

"Hey there." She waved for Comforting to join her. "Have breakfast?"

"I had." That didn't stop Comforting from landing across from Diamond. "Morning!"

"Morning yourself." Diamond sipped from her colorful drink of the day. "I hear you're getting more comfortable with the whole chaos thing."

"I think I am," Comforting proudly agreed. "And it's fun."

Diamond waggled a hoof at Comforting. "Can I ask a favor?"

Comforting sat up. "Is something wrong?"

"Not exactly..." Diamond crossed her arms. "More of a curiosity thing, really. Can you change ponies?"

Comforting thought of the things Diamond would want changed. "You're just fine as an earth pony, Diamond."

"What? No." Diamond wrinkled her nose. "I just wanna know what I'll look like as an adult, is all." She glanced away and back. "I don't want to end up like my mom. Don't tell her that."

Comforting casually zipped her lips, literally, with the soft buzz of the teeth interlocking and sealing her mouth shut.

Diamond reached over and pulled the zipper free. "I want you to talk with me, goof. Can you do it? Just a little bit, a sneak preview!"

Comforting frowned with thought. "I can probably tell you how you might look, but not how you for sure will look. You're still growing." She waved both hands over Diamond. "There's time for things to change."

Diamond inclined her head. "That's... actually kind of nice. It means even if I don't like what I see, I can still try to fix it. Hit me!"

Now came the part when Comforting had to actually do it. She hadn't been taught that trick, specifically, but she was getting a grasp on how chaos worked, in general. She felt confident enought to try. "Alright!" She hopped up and didn't bother coming back down, floating instead. "See this?" She drew out a shower curtain and flipped it about, showing it off. "Very nice, love the floral pattern."

Diamond's eyes followed the curtain as it was waved about. "Very... nice? How does that--" The curtain encompassed her vision as Comforting shoved it at her, wrapping up Diamond entirely and concealing her from the universe for just a moment. Comforting wrenched it away with a crack of a whip. "And let's see!"

Diamond swatted at where the curtain had been. "Warn a filly before..." She trailed off, realizing her voice was off. "What?" She curled on herself and paused. Even seeing her side and rump was seeing a difference. "What?" She grabbed her mirror for proper looking. "Woah.... Hey!" She poked her snoot with a hoof in a self-boop. "I have mom's nose!" It was mildly turned up. Not as severe as her mother dearest, but it was there, making it extra clear they were related. "It's... not that bad." She inclined her head left and right at the reflected image. "I sound different, but not bad..."

Comforting giggled with joy. She had done it right. "It will wear off soon. No way the universe will let my trick stand for long." She waved up at the sky. "Thanks for being a good sport."

A great hand appeared from the clouds, giving a thumbs up.

Comforting blinked at it. Had she made that, or had the universe actually given her a thumbs up? She couldn't know.

"Comforting?" Diamond was looking at her, apparently missing the whole exchange. "Thank you. This is..." She hopped down to the ground and did a twirl, looking at herself the whole time. "Wow... Look at me! I'm a nice looking mare." She flashed a big proud smile. "You have to do Silver Spoon!"

"Only if she wants it, and a good magic trick shouldn't be repeated over and over without some variation. You don't want your chaos doer to get boring, do you?" Comforting landed on the table near Diamond, swinging her legs and smiling at the happy filly-turned-mare. "And no getting into trouble."

"As if." Diamond waved that away. "I don't even know when this will wear off, so anything I'd want to do has a good chance of going sour anyway. Gonna get to school!" She trotted off with a giggling departure, pleased.

It was only about ten steps away that, with a puff of smoke, the original Diamond was returned. "Toldja!" She kept right on going, but was just as happy about things.

"This is... fun." Comforting lifted into the air, considering her new self. She was a god, kinda. She could mess things up real bad, but she didn't want that. She would be a force of good chaos! With a smile, she charged for school. Chaos creature or not, she sat down and paid attention in class.

"Hey." It was just after school, and Gallus was jogging over towards her on all fours. "Been meaning to talk to you."

Comforting hopped up, allowing hovering at his height while being quadruped at the same time. "What's up?"

"We were in the middle of something and then this... happened." He waved a few talons at Comforting's new being. "I understand you getting a little distracted... but I still wanna do it, if you're up for it?"

Comforting clapped her hands on the sides of her face. "I'm so sorry! Where did we leave off?"

Gallus seemed to relax at the clear signal it had just been a mistake, and one that would be fixed. "We were gonna tweak the machine so it made little things with famous pony pictures instead of keyrings, remember?"

Comforting slapped one fist down onto an open palm. "Right! One thing... I haven't re-learned unicorn magic yet, working on that with a bunch of other stuff." She grabbed at her large yak horn. "My plate is full! But without that, I can only throw chaos at it. It'd probably work... but also wouldn't last, and that won't do for what you're trying for. You want a fix that'll last, right?"

Gallus hiked a brow. "About that. How much chaos are we talking anyway?"

Comforting rocked in the air. "That's hard to measure! So far... my imagination seems more a limit than anything else. Which is a little dangerous..."

Gallus smirked at that. "That's a little scary. So you could swap us all around? Make Yona a changeling and Ocellus a griffon?"

Comforting giggled at that. "Ocellus can already be a griffon if she wants to be. Changelings are great like that! I bet Yona would figure out how to be a yak again really quickly. But making her not a yak sounds... kind of mean spirited."

Gallus waved that away. "Don't be silly. It'd be a fun thing, especially if we're all on board. A 'walk a mile in each other's shoes' kind of thing." None of them wore shoes by habit. "I'd like to see how some of them handle it."

Comforting waggled a lone finger at Gallus. "And if you end up without wings, how will you like that?"

Gallus picked up each foot in turn. "I'm standing right now. Not like I don't know how. Besides, it'll just be for a little while, right?"

Comforting looked ready to say yes, but a new thought arrived. The Young Six were directly Harmony's agents. If she did that, she would be interfering with them. That would make Harmony even sadder. "Um... Let me think about it. I don't want to hurt anycreature accidentally."

"Oh, yeah." Gallus rubbed near the tip of his beak. "Make sure you know what you're doing, for sure. We can wait on the machine until you're ready for that too." He patted her right on the head, mussing her curious new ears. "I just wanted to be sure that you didn't forget. We have a thing going."

Comforting dropped to the ground with a thumb thrust upwards. "You got it. A little chaos isn't going to stop me, or us." She met his hand with her own in a solid clap.

"Awesome. Later." He walked off with a pleased smile.

"He looks happy."

Comforting twirled to see Ocellus standing there. "Hey!" She landed with happily color-swirling eyes. "Your trick's been really helpful."

Ocellus blinked at that. "Which trick?"

Comforting pointed to her still shifting eyes. "This. It helped get a quick hold of what I was doing." Her eyes became smiling emojis, both winking at Ocellus. "I owe you a lot."

"I'm glad it helped." Ocellus sat. "You really cheered Gallus up. Good job... We're even."

Comforting blinked, eyes returning to normal. "Even?"

"I helped you, you helped Gallus. That seems fair." Ocellus nodded with confidence at this. "You helped me too... I've been listening more, and watching." She glanced about nervously. "You see a lot more... when you look."

"Can't argue that." Comforting threw up her hands. "See anything interesting?"

"A lot... I'm still figuring out what to do, but I can see it." Ocellus smiled nervously. "Thank you."

"You are very welcome." She went in for a hug and wasn't rejected, the two warmly embracing a moment. "You are the best bug pony ever."

Ocellus blinked at that. "I'm not a pony."

Comforting squeaked softly. Had she just been rude? "Sorry. I do mean it though, um... You're awesome."

"T-thanks." Ocellus took an unsure step back. "I should go. Good luck learning yourself."

"That's a forever and a half thing," sighed out Comforting, waving at Ocellus flee off to do whatever Ocellus did. She zipped from the school, changeling horn glowing with practiced runes. She'd get that back! Eventually... But that wasn't the time to focus on that. She rushed to the hospital to get Screwball.

"Sis!" Screwball popped out a window, a nurse behind her with an exasperated expression. "You actually came."

"Of course I did." Comforting met Screwball in a warm hug. "I said I would."

The nurse pony hurried out to join them. "You have to sign her out, please, before you... float away or whatever it is you're doing." She squinted at the two, hovering there with no wings.

Comforting saluted sharply. "Yes, ma'am!" Darting around the nurse mare, Comforting rushed inside to sign on the proper dotted lines, announcing that she had arrived to grab Screwball. "Let's play!"

Author's Note:

Schoolday, complete. Comforting is getting rather cozy with her new self. It's kinda fun!

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Comments

[Amethyst Dragonfly]

"This is... fun." Comforting lifted into the air, considering her new self. She was a god, kinda. She could mess thing sup real bad, but she didn't want that. She would be a force of good chaos! With a smile, she charged for school. Chaos creature or not, she sat down and paid attention in class.

Should be

could mess things up real bad,

[Amethyst Dragonfly]

It is a good thing that Comforting wants to be a force of good chaos. The opposite would be a catastrophe.

I love how Comforting thought of how changing the Young Six would make Harmony sad, so she decided to hold off on doing that. Maybe she will talk to Harmony about swapping them with each other if she has their permissions? After all, learning what it is like to be each other should make their Friendship Bonds even stronger.

It is nice that at the end of the chapter Comforting goes and gets her little sister, Screwball, so they can play with Chaos. Comforting is a good big sister.

[Chrome Masquerade]

Screwball came in, twirling to arrive upside down at the calender. "Wow, that's close! I'll be good so we can have the bestest party ever !" She thrust a hoof up(down?) towards the ground and rotated back up. "See you after the school thing."

That's kinda redundant and contradictory.

[Chrome Masquerade]

Diamond's eyes followed the curtain as it was waved about. "Very... nice? How does that--" The curtain encompassed her vision as Comforting shoved it at her, wrapping up Diamond entirely and concealing her from the universe for just a moment. Comforting wrenched it away with a crack of a whip. "And let's see!"

Diamond swatted at where the curtain had been. "Warn a filly before..." She trailed off, realizing her voice was off. "What?" She curled on herself and paused. Even seeing her side and rump was seeing a difference. "What?" She grabbed her mirror for proper looking. "Woah.... Hey!" She poked her snoot with a hoof in a self-boop. "I have mom's nose!" It was mildly turned up. Not as severe as her mother dearest, but it was there, making it extra clear they were related. "It's... not that bad." She inclined her head left and right at the reflected image. "I sound different, but not bad..."

---

Comforting giggled with joy. She had done it right. "It will wear off soon. No way the universe will let my trick stand for long." She waved up at the sky. "Thanks for being a good sport."

A great hand appeared from the clouds, giving a thumbs up.

Comforting blinked at it. Had she made that, or had the universe actually given her a thumbs up? She couldn't know.

Okay, that was kinda funny.

[Chrome Masquerade]

"This is... fun." Comforting lifted into the air, considering her new self. She was a god, kinda. She could mess things up real bad, but she didn't want that. She would be a force of good chaos! With a smile, she charged for school.

Comforting rocked in the air. "That's hard to measure! So far... my imagination seems more a limit than anything else. Which is a little dangerous..."

That would be Ki energy (Like the Golden Sun version; Energy of the mind).

---

Gallus smirked at that. "That's a little scary. So you could swap us all around? Make Yona a changeling and Ocellus a griffon?"

Comforting giggled at that. "Ocellus can already be a griffon is she wants to be. Changelings are great like that! I bet Yona would figure out how to be a yak again really quickly. But making her not a yak sounds... kind of mean spirited."

if
She has a point.

---

"I helped you, you helped Gallus. That seems fair."

That's called "paying it forward"

[Twinkie Sprinkle]

Screwie continues to be adorable and to activate my protective instincts. With that in mind, I'm really glad Comforting got to go to the hospital to check on her, on at the end.

Comforting's interactions with Diamond were a lot of fun, and very heartfelt. Not only was it great that the whole experiment went much better than the petrification incident, but it's fascinating to see how naturally Comforting and the world around her flow in and out of the Loony Tunes style chaos antics.

Comforting's statement about magic tricks makes me think she could learn a little from Trixie one day.

It's nice to see Comforting meeting up with Gallus and Ocellus again. Though, it's easy to relate to her worries.

Firstly, that changing the Young Six too much might harm Harmony, since they are either Elements Bearers or something similar to it.

The second thing being the "pony" faux pas with Ocellus. Despite her good intentions, it was easy to forget that Ocellus isn't a pony. Indeed, since they are somewhat alicorn shaped, it's easy for me to forget at times that the Changelings are not a pony tribe.

But oddly enough, it looks like Comforting might still be able to channel unicorn magic through her Changeling horn. With time, at least.

[Amethyst Dragonfly]

Comforting giggled with joy. She had done it right. "It will wear off soon. No way the universe will let my trick stand for long." She waved up at the sky. "Thanks for being a good sport."

A great hand appeared from the clouds, giving a thumbs up.

Comforting blinked at it. Had she made that, or had the universe actually given her a thumbs up? She couldn't know.

It would be neat if the Universe had actually given Comforting a thumbs up. Any approval from "Harmony's boss" has to be a good thing.

[David Silver]

11408655
She is an adorable and venerable creature in need of love and support. Fortunately comforting is quite willing to provide that. They make adorable siblings I think.
Company is trying to be on the side of Harmony while still being chaotic. Can she walk that tightrope?

[Twinkie Sprinkle]

She is an adorable and venerable creature in need of love and support.

Wholeheartedly agreed.

Fortunately comforting is quite willing to provide that. They make adorable siblings I think.

They do. Very good at looking out for each other.

Company is trying to be on the side of Harmony while still being chaotic. Can she walk that tightrope?

An excellent question. Hopefully she'll figure something out in time.

[Prettypony]

omg the bodyswap trope is my favorite. i hope you do it

[Morphy]

11408685

Comforting's journey is sounding a lot like Twilight's in a vague sense, becoming the "twilight" between the daylight of Harmony and the night of chaos.